FAQ 's, Comments, and
Considerations
for the
Mentoring Program
Peter Kelly
February 2009
A collection of Frequently Asked Question (FAQ's),
etc.
New questions added all the time
Latest question/ comment was posted:
Sunday 2/15/09
Q. What is cross-country flying in gliders?
A. Technically, it is probably any time you are
out of glide range back to the airport. But, the term is more
often used to describe traveling to someplace that is dozens or
even hundreds of miles away, and then returning to the place you
started, or more simply, traveling one way, straight out, and
then landing at some other location, returning the glider back
home via ground or aero retrieve.
Q. How do I avoid being low too far away from the runway? I can
thermal fine, and I practice long glides back to the gliderport,
but I don’t like the idea of getting low far from the gliderport
with no place to land. I know from experience that it's not fun
to be in that situation. I don’t want to ever do that again.
I do enjoy cruising along at a safe altitude, climbing regularly
without getting low, but I never seem to be able to stay high
enough to go anywhere. I’d like to fly over new places a
bit further from the gliderport, and those long glides back to
the runway from a high altitude sound like a lot of fun. What
is the secret to enjoying the fun part, but not suffering through
the scary stuff?
A. First – do NOT get low over places where there is
nowhere to land. That is stupid, and it ruins the sport of soaring
for all of us. It gives the sport a bad name. There is no need
to get into that position. Stay within glide distance of lift
– lift you can count on. If there is no lift you can count
on, then you must stay within glide distance of a safe place
to land – simple as that.
You would never release from tow, downwind from the glider port,
having no knowledge, or indication of lift that you can count
on, would you? Same is true for a cross-country flight. You
are planning to fly cross-country because you studied the conditions,
feel somewhat confident you will find lift after release from
tow, and have a general idea on where you will find lift on
your planned route.
The expertise you need is: being able to reliably predict where
you will find lift. You don’t learn that as easily while
in the glider as you do in the classroom. In flight it only
validates your prediction. Learn to predict lift. Offer to buy
some knowledgeable pilot food and drink. Read books, or internet
pages, or whatever, and don’t waste other pilot’s
time without doing your own preparation. Then, armed with limited
and unproven knowledge and facts, sit down with a mentor person
and get some opinions about how to predict lift. No one can
predict lift for sure on certain days, even though it eventually
appears. On the other hand, there are many days when the lift
is so predictable that the more experienced pilots simply shake
their head in wonderment, not understanding why YOU continue
to hang out at the house thermal. Could it be there is more
to the challenge?
Q. I guess one of my problems is that I feel that many of the
pilots at the field are egotistical jerks. I've tried a few times,
but I don't seem to learn anything from the conversations I have
had. Granted I'm not a real social person, and I did have several
friends before I got my engineering degree several years ago.
Is there some secret to getting those hot shots to talk to me?
A. Interesting, and revealing question as well.
Maybe they only appear to be egotistical jerks because you are
somewhat frustrated, and possibly jealous. You have come this
far, why not keep moving and growing? Soaring is in fact a social
sport. With few exceptions, you can only launch if someone helps
you. There is only so much satisfaction out of proving things
to yourself about your gliding accomplishments. On many days,
when you did so poorly, you may find that you flew further than
anyone else at the field. Conversely, when you flew that great
flight last time, you were very pleased with yourself, but little
did you know that many others - even less experienced pilots,
did even better that day. You are flying against what Mother Nature
provides. Accomplishments are all relative. Some days are better
than others. You will never know unless you adapt socially.
Accept the fact that gliding is a social arena. Share your experiences,
both accomplishments and frustrations, with your fellow pilots.
You will soon be one of them, and there will undoubtedly be many
other pilots willing to share their 'secrets' with you. Enjoy
the sport - don't simply be frustrated by the challenges.
Q Can you give me some other reasons why I can't seem to learn
very much from the experienced pilots?
A. Maybe some of these explain it:
-
A good flight takes a lot out of a pilot.
Both physically and emotionally draining.
-
The brain has been in gear for the past 3
or 4 hours, just had a successful return to the airport, and
it's time to relax. Certainly not totally exhausted, but probably
not interested in trying to explain the why and the how of
selecting a route, finding thermals and covering many miles
on this flight.
-
It takes years to become an accomplished cross-country
pilot. Many less experienced pilots just don't know the right
questions to ask.
-
Three things that are difficult to do in a
casual conversation:
-
How do explain to someone how to drive
a car?
-
How do you explain to someone how to
fly a glider?
-
How do you explain to someone how to fly
cross-country ?
-
Some people are able to intellectualize their
skills - others say they can't explain it, they just do it.
Some don't care to talk about how they do it, they just do
it. Would you ask someone how to play a good game of golf?
Or ask someone about how they swing their club when they are
really connecting with the ball on a nice fairway shot?
-
Cross-country is complex flying. Nearly
all of the things you learned about flying come into play
on an x-c flight. Your ability to fly is an application
of many skills. To learn x-c you simply review and examine
each of those many skills (as they apply to flying somewhere
far from home) and you practice them over and over, becoming
a bit better each and every time you fly x-c.
Q. What is your motivation for wanting to fly
cross-country?
Why do you want to learn it?
A. The following might be some of the wrong
answers:
I like to take greater risks.
I want to be able to brag about how far
I flew.
I like to see if I can go right to the edge,
and still make it back.
I want to show pilot "so and so"
how good I am.
The right answers to this question are personal
and varied, but you do want to discuss this point with your
mentor pilot.
Q. When I start out on a mini-cross-country flight
I usually return to the house thermal because the other gliders
have just kept on going. They leave me behind. If I fly faster,
then I am a lot lower than all those others. Maybe I need a newer
glider. Something with a better glide ratio. Should I give up
trying to fly x-c in this old glider?
A. Absolutely not! What if this was the 1960’s,
or the 50’s or even the 40’s? They flew cross-country
then, didn't’t they? Your ship can out fly anything
made 40 or more years ago, so why not learn to fly correctly?
If you fly fast and get low, don’t fly fast. Uh.. Duh...
Going fast will get you there sooner, but
in a no wind situation, the best speed for YOUR best L/D will
have you arriving at that next turnpoint just as high, if
not higher, than all of the other gliders. The only problem
is they got there way before you arrived, and now they have
all moved on, leaving you with no one to fly with. If you
have a “slow” glider, you just can’t go
as far, but you can STILL GO!.
Distance = Rate x Time
To fly 90 miles and if your average ground speed is 30 MPH,
it will take you 3 hours.
90 miles = 30 MPH x 3 hrs
Sure in those three hours the higher performance ships (the
“fast” gliders) may have flown twice as far, because
they went twice as fast (180 miles = 60 MPH x 3 hrs).
Learn to fly your equipment, but don’t stop trying to
learn cross-country.
Q. What if I have a glider that only has a 38:1
glide ratio? Can I fly a mentoring flight with a glider with a 48:1
glide ratio. Won’t he just run off and leave me in the dust?
A. First question is, can you climb faster than the “fast”
ship? Could be yes or no, but it probably doesn't’t
matter. Thermaling takes a lot of skill, and you probably
are good at thermaling. You will undoubtedly leave the thermal
at the same altitude and the same time as the other pilot.
Now the question is will you fly the same speed? Sure, why
not fly the same speed? That speed, should be YOUR best glide
speed, given the headwind, if any. Will you be much lower
than the “fast” ship when you arrive at the next
thermal? Probably a bit lower, but who cares? You won’t
be much lower. The altitude loss depends on a lot of things.
You should know every one of them. You will soon realize that
your limitation has been that you are not confidently predicting
the location of the next thermal that you should use, and
the altitude that you will arrive there. There are a lot of
factors involved in flying cross-country. You just need to
take them one at a time, and fly your own ship, at your own
pace, over the correct distance for your equipment on that
day.
Q. I have a ship in good condition that has a pretty
good L/D of 38 to 1, I know how to thermal, I know what speeds to
fly for various lift and sink conditions and for various headwinds/
tailwinds, I use my flap setting correctly, I have done off field
landings, I know I am ready to fly some long cross-country flights,
but I am not comfortable going more than 10 or 20 miles - even on
a good day. How is mentoring going to help me?
A. This is a difficult question to answer. You seem
to be the perfect candidate for mentoring. These things might
help:
- Validate that you are, in fact, doing things correctly.
- Explain ( by simple comparison) how your flying is differnt
than others.
- A second opinion will help you understand what challenges
you are facing up or maybe not recognizing, in your decision
making.
- You need to gain confidence in using these skills that you
say you have.
- Maybe there is unrecognized stress or fear - all due to misunderstanding.
- You did not mention any special skills in being able to predict
lift - you will need to be able to predict with some skill where
your next thermal will be found.
Q. If I fly with a mentor, will he teach me where to find lift
on a cross-country.
Q. It seems like most of the work is being done by the
student in many of the above instances. Why do I need to put so much
preparation into a mentoring flight? I just want someone to show me
how to fly cross-country.
- If you are ready for cross-country, then there will not be
that much work required on the part of the student. If you are
ready, you already know all of these things. You learned them
while you were getting your rating, but probably only had limited
practical application of the knowledge, thus you have only marginal
confidence in the value and reliability of the things you already
know. Cross-country with a mentor give you the self-confidence
to fly long cross-country flights.
- It takes many years of practice to become good at cross-country.
The mentor needs you to show him what you know. From there,
he can fill in the gaps in your knowledge. This is not a ten
flight program. You may only fly once or twice with the mentor.
You get out of it what you put into it.
Q. Why all the radio chatter? Why do you want me (the
student) to call
every time I stop to thermal or leave a thermal? Why do I need to
tell you
if I am "thinking" about not going to that next TP, or that
I am just
"thinking" about taking a 30 degree alteration off to the
right of the route
to get to that next TP? All that talking is going to cause me to not
fly
the right speeds, and it is distracting. besides - aren't you - the
mentor-
supposed to be watching me all the time??? Besides, won't all thta
chatter be annoying to the other pilots on the frequency??
A. That's a long question, or should I say, a lot
of questions at one time,
but I think I see your point. Here is a long answer:
I ( the mentor) am here to help. How can I help if
I don't know what you
are thinking. We do get some "do overs" on some wrong
decisions that cause
us to cover less ground, not make it to a tp, etc, but some decisions
will
result in mission termination by either heading for home prematurely,
or a
landout, so why not avoid those undesirable outcomes? Tell the mentor
what
you are thinking. Maybe there is a better way to handle things.
A technique
you may be able to use. Maybe the mentor will let you fly your route,
and he
may choose to fly his route, just to show you which was the better
choice
between the two. You will get a chance to see the outcome of the
"road not
taken."
Saying what you are thinking does not involve a lot
a chatter. With very
little practice, you will soon realize, the requirement for you
to "say what
you are thinking" requires you to come to terms with your decision
making.
Maybe you are not in fact making decisions. Maybe you are wandering
about,
and only hoping for lift. Maybe you are being distracted by the
wrong
things in-flight. Maybe you are so busy working your computer or
reading
your charts or monitoring airspeed or whatever, that you are not
making
decisions in a timely manner. Maybe you are making decisions and
sticking
with them too long, rather than re-assessing new facts that are
presented to
you ( like now you can see some wispy clouds to the right or left,
or now
you are too low to continue towards that next intended thermal,
or now you
will be arriving at that next thermal much higher than you had planned
and
since you are only getting 2 kts of lift, maybe you should reconsider
looking for a thermal in this spot, etc.)
If you head off more than 20 degrees from the last
planned track or even
another direction, or double back on course without telling me,
I may not
see it immediately and I will quickly lose sight of you. The distance
and
altitude difference could quickly become so great that we are no
longer
flying together. A simple short radio call - announcement style-
( xx
moving to the south) will negate some unneeded distractions. Once
we become
sufficiently separated we will spend excessive time on the radio
and waste
precious altitude while we attempt to get back together again. It's
better
to avoid all of that.
Another point about stating what you are "thinking"
versus, what you have "decided to do" is....
even though you didn't make the decision, we all
tend to gravitate in the direction we intend to go. For example,
if you were half way to a TP and had stopped to thermal, but lost
the thermal well below where you know the top should have been,
you may well continue to keep re-shifting your search for that
thermal in the direction of the TP you were trying to go to, rather
than objectively considering that it requires you to back track
slightly to get back into that thermal. If you are thinking you
are lower than you should be at a certain point on course, you
may be subconsciously moving closer towards a safe landout field
- even though you think you are objectively looking in the best
spot of a nearby thermal.
As an in-flight mentor, I can not offer assistance,
I an only present distractions to you, if I
trying to make you think of things that you are not currently
considering.
As a student on a cross-country, or for that matter
most any pilot on a cross-country, your mind is never idle. When
you are on your game, your mind keeps moving from one item to another:
right speed, right flaps for this speed, enough altitude to move
to the next thermal, where is that next thermal, what is the best
route, what altitude should I leave this thermal, should I stop
to thermal in this bump, was that a bump or a thermal big enough
to circle in? what were the winds two minutes ago? did the winds
just shift or is it my imagination, do I have enough altitude to
not thermal any more until get back to the finish line, etc.
As for frequency congestion - if there are more than
two or three other pilots on the frequency, then a discrete frequency
(other than 123.3) should be used.
Q. Why do we need to be at the gliderport earlier than
usual?
A. Because there is so much more to do that usual.
Better to plan on getting to the gliderport earlier than normal
- the ships need to be In addition to the normal getting ready to
fly of ship assembly, and preflight, today requires a better than
average check of the soaring conditions, time to review and demo
your GPS equipment to the other pilot, have a meaningful pilot meeting,
and plan more than usual.
P. Problem - experienced by a mentor. I have lost track
of the student - mostly because he was unable to describe his position
effectively.
Solution. This underscores the importance of the preflight
brief on GPS equipment, especially the same units of measure for
distance - (normally - statute miles). The need to have a specific
immediate goal turnpoint at all times. The need for clear and concise
position reports. The student should always be enroute to a specific
point, and always be able to give mileage to that point at any time.
Review communications pages for minimizing radio congestion when
trying to resolve this problem. Mentor should state: "xx say
position and altitude", student might respond, for example
"xx is 22 miles from Yolo, 7,000 ft, about 2 miles east of
Sheet Iiron". If mentor needs more info, he will ask. position
should always begin with the exact mileage, as read off of the GPS
display, from a given point.
P. Problem - experienced by a student. Student gets
frustrated, and needs the mentor to temporarily make decisions on
selecting the next TP and/or the route of flight.
Solution. Student should not mask his frustration.
If student wants help, then speak up. Mentor should not aggravate
student by talking to him all the time. If student wants mentor
to select next TP or route of flight, then mentor should do it.
Q. Is there a problem with the mentor taking the lead
and selecting the next few thermals, and let the student follow?
A. The caution to keep in mind if the mentor is in
the lead is that the student may inadvertently get further away
from, or below a comfortable glide for a recover landing field.
ANY TIME the student becomes uncomfortable with position or altitude,
the student needs to select his own route. A second draw back of
having the mentor lead is that the student is no longer practicing
the most important aspect of cross-country soaring, and that is
decision making. Knowing where to go, which TP to select next, where
to find thermals, when to start heading back towards home, etc are
all of the major dicisions that will be made by the mentor if the
mentor is in the lead. The student needs to learn by doing!
Q. Is the demo of the GPS in the cockit really necessary?
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